Exxel Pharma is eyeing a listing on the NYSE American to fund human trials for a drug class that has previously struggled to deliver in the clinic.
The Colorado-incorporated company set out plans to sell 3 million shares at $5 apiece. Exxel estimates the IPO could bring in $13.2 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted Jan. 30.
At the top of the list of spending priorities is an estimated $80,000 that Exxel has earmarked to manufacture and test sufficient quantities of its lead candidate, EX937, with the goal of taking the drug into a phase 1 trial in Australia this year. A further $3.8 million will be set aside for the study itself.
EX937 is a fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor in development for refractory chronic cough and other hypersensitivity disorders that share the pathophysiology of hypersensitized sensory neurons. The aim is to make EX937 into a “pipeline-in-a-drug” via phase 2 trials for indications like hyperactive bladder, painful peripheral neuropathies, and migraine headache, according to Exxel.
FAAH helps regulate the body’s cannabinoid receptors, making it a seemingly promising target for the treatment of pain and anxiety. But biopharmas have struggled to demonstrate this promise in the clinic.
Back in 2016, a FAAH inhibitor anxiety treatment from Portuguese biotech Bial led to six hospitalizations and one death in a phase 1 study. That result persuaded Johnson & Johnson to abandon its own FAAH inhibitor for depression, while Jazz Pharmaceuticals dropped a FAAH inhibitor after a phase 2 fail in post-traumatic stress disorder in 2023.
EX937—which Exxel licensed from the University of California, Irvine—is “actively excluded from the central nervous system,” according to the company. The biotech is betting that this will “greatly reduce the potential for centrally mediated side effects, and differentiates its mechanism of action from FAAH inhibitors of the past.”
As well as EX937, the company has also licensed other FAAH inhibitors from the university. Exxel is hoping these compounds “have applications in multiple CNS disorders, including social anxiety disorder and autism spectrum disorder, which are at present untreated.”
“Exxel is currently evaluating options for effectively commercializing [these compounds] without distracting resources from the lead asset EX937,” the company explained in the SEC filing.
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The biotech has been led by Soren Mogelsvang, Ph.D.—the company’s only full-time employee—since 2017. Mogelsvang previously served as CEO of veterinary health company Peak Pharmaceuticals and, since 2021, has juggled his Exxel responsibilities with serving as director for neuropsychiatric and autoimmune biotech MycoBiotix.
Heading up Exxel’s R&D is Chief Scientific Officer Daniele Piomelli, Ph.D., M.D., who concurrently serves as CEO of Nectaris, a company focused on developing non-pharmaceutical treatments for metabolic syndrome and chronic pain, according to the filing.
Piomelli, along with the company’s Chief Medical Officer, Richard Paul, M.D., and Chief Financial Officer, Robert Dickey IV, were Exxel’s only other employees, and all three held part-time positions as of last September.
